Heartbreaking twist in ‘House of Horrors' case where 3 children were kept captive for 4 years by ‘germaphobe' parents

The Sun

24-05-2025

THREE children locked in a "house of horrors" by their parents for four horrific years are facing another heartbreaking struggle.
Christian Steffen, 53, and his wife Melissa Ann Steffen, 48, were arrested for alleged child abuse after the police raided the house in Spain.
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The police found three young boys at the Oviedo home - dubbed the "house of horrors" - who are thought to have lived there for four years since the pandemic began.
The eight-year-old twins and ten-year-old boy were discovered in horrific conditions - each wearing three face masks and forced to wear nappies and sleep in caged beds.
And now, the tragic victims are reportedly set to be put into a children's home.
The police said the house was full of rubbish and old medicines as well as filthy pet excrement and a cat with a massive tumour.
The children were reportedly kept out of school and were forbidden to leave the house.
A source close to the ongoing investigation said: 'They had a timetable and a maximum number of times a day they could use the toilet because the rest of the time they had to wear nappies."
The young boys were reportedly suffering from "severe constipation" when they were discovered because they weren't allowed to go to the toilet when they wanted.
The parents also used black market medicines containing cannabis derivative THC to treat the kids for alleged deficit attention disorders which investigators say they are not even sure the youngsters were suffering.
The mum-of-three told cops they had asked officials in Germany - where they lived before moving to northern Spain - for permission to educate their kids at home after the initial Covid crisis.
The family emigrated after being warned that social services would be alerted if they took them out of school.
A guest room in the horror house had been turned into a makeshift classroom where the boys had reportedly learned to read, write and draw.
The police said the house was full of rubbish and old medicines as well as filthy pet excrement and used tampons.
But strangely the couple were reportedly using half a dozen air purifier machines they kept in their bedroom.
The children were reportedly told to lower the blinds on their bedroom windows at 5.10pm each day after being allowed to raise them exactly halfway up the windows during daylight hours.
They had no television to watch or electronic games to play with and wore pyjamas all day and all night - and many neighbours have admitted they had no idea anyone was even living in the house.
Cops were only called when a resident in the area raised the alarm.
The woman reportedly heard voices that sounded like children coming from the house despite never having seen anyone leave the house to play or go to school.
After several days of surveillance cops were clear that more than just the man they saw coming in and out had to live there.
The size of the boxes of food of the orders that the man brought into the home were the biggest giveaway.
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But nothing could prepare the agents for what they would find when they entered the Josef Fritzl-esque horror house.
When they wanted to take them out of the building they did not even have shoes of their size as they had not bought shoes for years.
The police added that when the children were freed, one of them knelt on the grass and touched it with amazement.
An officer said: 'They touched the grass and breathed fresh air as if they had never done so before in their lives.
'They saw a snail and they were completely taken aback.'
The chief commissioner of the Local Police of Oviedo, Francisco Javier Lozano explained the details of the operation leading to the arrest of the couple at 2.45pm on Monday.
The initial search of the house was reportedly made more difficult because Spain had been plunged into darkness by the electricity outrage.
When the cops knocked on the front door, the father answered but asked the officers to wait for a few minutes so the children could put their masks on.
One police officer told the Spanish press: "They were very scared and around the mother, who told us all the time that the little ones had serious pathologies and that we should not approach them.
Josef Fritzl's crimes
THE twisted dad asks his daughter Elisabeth to help him install a door in his cellar in 1984.
She agreed and moments later she is drugged with an ether-soaked towel, tied up and chained to a bed.
She would spend the next 24 years locked up in the hellish prison in Amstetten.
Evil Fritzl went on to rape her over 3,000 times in rat-infested bunker.
He would beat and kick her and force her into degrading acts - including re-enacting scenes from violent porn films.
Elisabeth gave birth to seven babies in the cellar with no medical care.
Kerstin, born 1988, Stefan (1990) and Felix (2002) were left to live with their mum in the underground hellhole.
But Lisa, (born 1992) Monica (1994) and Alexander (1996) - were raised upstairs, by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he convinced her they were left on the doorstep by Elisabeth.
Alexander's twin Michael died shortly after birth with cruel Fritzl tossing his body in an incinerator.
The family's nightmare sees Fritzl threatening them if they dare to escape and punishing them by switching off the electricity.
Their nightmare comes to an end when Kerstin fell critically ill in 2008.
Fritzl allowed Elisabeth to take her to the hospital where she revealed the shocking horrors she had suffered.
Despite trying to argue he was trying to be a protective father, Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.
"They had three masks each on top of each other. They were oblivious to any contact with reality."
Lozano added: "We have dismantled the house of horrors".
Having been checked out at the Central University Hospital of Asturias the children have now been placed under the guardianship of the Government of the Principality.
And the boys' parents have been warned they face possible prison sentences of between five and seven years.
They are being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence, psychological mistreatment and child abandonment.
It is not yet clear who is defending them, but lawyers hired by the couple are expected to consider an expert analysis of their clients' mental health amid speculation it had suffered as a result of the Covid crisis.
Christian reportedly worked as a freelance senior tech recruiter and HR manager, having obtained a doctorate in philosophy from Hamburg University.
He previously worked as a marketing consultant and head of a call centre at a telecommunications company.
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